"His supreme value as a blogger is that he knows how to follow a story", writes Fealty. "Undoubtedly he kept a lot of psychological pressure on the former secretary for works and pensions directly and vicariously through his readers/fans/detractors in the lobby.

"But he also dealt a number of exclusive and strategic blows along the way, breaching that increasingly thin veil between legitimate news and comment. Let's hope that he is given the credit he deserves."

Do newspaper journalists agree? Is this the first example of a blogger supplanting Fleet Street?